Christmas-- Part One

I'm really hoping to stay on top of Christmas posts and get them up before, say, Easter this year.  I know-- it's good to have goals.  Our Christmas celebrations began the weekend before the actual holiday with our annual Richard Family celebration at Stacie and Noah's house.  It was a wonderful day, full of lots of laugh, and lots of music, and lots of silliness.

 

You couldn't help but be laughing as soon as you walked in the door.  Stacie's idea to turn this into an ugly sweater party was a terrific one.  Not only did we all have a blast shopping for/or decorating our own ugly Christmas sweaters, we thoroughly enjoyed seeing what each other had on.  We had everything from Ralphie's bunny suit from "A Christmas Story" to Gizmo from the Gremlins, to ones that lit up and ones that were just too ugly to explain.  It was an absolute riot.  Never challenge a Richard to a contest involving creativity.

 

We ate way too much- but everyone had made such delicious things to share.  Abby and Scott took the prize for their smoked salmon which will now definitely be making a rotation into our entertaining menu.  It was so good! 

 

The kids had a wonderful time playing together-- in fact, we saw very little of them until a herd of them went running past on some sort of a spy mission, or to refill on fuel of cookies or snacks.  They really seemed to enjoy each other.  While I don't mean this to sound as it may, we were all grateful that the kids were old enough now to be able to play on their own a bit more, without needing us quite so much.  Not that we aren't all missing having babies at the parties, but there are certainly advantages to having older children who can fend for themselves a bit.

 

There was a chugging competition for the decision as to who would be the proud caretaker of the Queen Titihaha statue for the coming year.  The rules are that she has to have a prominent location in your home for the course of one year, and then must be passed on in some way to another family member.  When she passes from one to the other, there needs to be a story or a poem about her adventures for the year.  This year surely did not disappoint.  Noah and Stacie had written quite a story about her year in the Hollow, and we all laughed hysterically as Cory read it.  I can't wait to hear how she makes out in Perry County for the year with Cory and Shannon and the boys.

 

Just for something fun, we also set up a photo booth for everyone's enjoyment, and it turned into some great pictures that I think we'll all get a kick out of.

 

Here's the rest of the day in pictures for your enjoyment...I'm sure they don't capture all of the fun, but suffice it to say that it was a fantastic day spent with some of the most special people on the Earth, as far as I'm concerned.  I've always looked forward to the opportunity to spend time with my family, and as it gets harder and harder to get the whole crew together, it means even more to us when everyone prioritizes the time to be together.

 

This was the perfect start to a Christmas season that had left me feeling a bit out of the spirit of things.  And it was just what I needed!

 

The chugging contest, although none of them knew what they were trying to win.

 



Jason was such a good sport about the sweater contest-- and took it up quite a step with his Ralphie costume from "A Christmas Story".

I wish I could post the video of Dad and Uncle Butch's version of "White Christmas".  It was hysterical.  Both of them made this party so much fun this year.  And their sweaters were "top notch".